THE

BULLETIN
www.iita.org
THE
Issue No. 2224 12 - 16 May 2014
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BULLETIN
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L-R: Dr Gbassey Tarawali with the Guinea Minister of Agriculture, Madame Jacqueline
Marthe Sultan (2nd from right) and other offcials in a high level discussion.
IITA takes awareness on biological control of afatoxins to Ghana
IITA signs partnership agreement to help Guinea improve
agriculture
I
ITA has signed a partnership agreement
to help Guinea in the production and
promotion of cassava, maize, cowpea and
soybean value chains. The agreement also
involves improvement of the livestock
value chain, for which IITA will help
the country link up with livestock value
chain actors including the International
Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).
The signing of the agreement follows
recent interactions between IITA
Ambassador Olusegun Obasanjo and
the Guinean government in which
the leadership of the West African
country sought solutions on how to
move the countrys agriculture forward.
Chief Obasanjo then got in touch with
IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga.
The agreement between IITA and Guinea
will allow IITA to deploy its agricultural
expertise to that country and help increase
agricultural productivity with the ultimate
goal of improving livelihoods and wealth
creation.
IITA will also mobilize other development
partners, both local and international to
help accelerate Guineas agricultural
growth, cutting across the value chains of
key staples including livestock.
With a population of about 10 million,
Guinea shares its northern border with
Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali, and
its southern border with Sierra Leone,
Liberia, and Ivory Coast. Its economy is
agricultural and mineral dependent, and
the country is the worlds second largest
producer of bauxite, with rich deposits of
diamonds and gold.
Despite the rich mineral resources, the
country is diversifying and placing greater
attention on agriculture to drive and
achieve sustainable development. In fact,
the government is eager to increase food
production by intensifying the production
systems sustained by the application of
improved technologies.
To fast-track the take-off of activities,
Dr Gbassey Tarawali, Representative of
the DG & DDG PCD, with colleagues in
IITA- Sierra Leone (Drs Braima James
and James Abaka-Whyte) worked
together to refne the Aide Memoire and
developed a memorandum of agreement
between IITA and the Guinea Ministry of
Agriculture.
IITA intends to apply a similar agricultural
research-for-development model which
has helped a country such as Nigeria to top
cassava-producing countries in the world.
We hope this is a step in the right
direction to help Guinea and other
countries in the Mano River Union, says
DG Sanginga.
A
stakeholder awareness and
sensitization workshop on afatoxin
biocontrol in Ghana was held on 24 April
at the Collinsmay Hotel, Ejura, in Ghana.
The Ejura District Director of Agriculture,
Mr Lawrence Krampa, welcomed
participants and highlighted the effects
of afatoxin contamination on health and
trade, and encouraged participants to
interact with resource persons to learn and
also disseminate what they learned to other
stakeholders who could not participate in
next page, please
Group photo of participants at the awareness and sensitization workshop on afatoxin biocontrol in Ghana
the workshop.
IITAs West Africa Coordinator for the
afasafe project, Dr Joseph Atehnkeng,
outlined the purpose of the workshop
and stated that the awareness and
sensitization of afatoxin biocontrol was
page 2 IITA Bulletin 2224
Foundation; and partners in African
agriculture development such as FARA and
other subregional research organizations.
Others expected guests are representatives
of 20 SARD-SC project countries and
Heads of CGIAR and international research
institutions such as AfricaRice, ICARDA,
IFPRI, ICRISAT, icipe, and ILRI who will
be collaborating partners in the program.
Meanwhile, the SARD-SC project site
has been redesigned for a better user
experience. Readers can visit the site at
www.sard-sc.org for the latest news and
publications on the four mandate crops
of the projectcassava, rice, maize, and
wheat.
IITA to hold workshop on engaging youth for agricultural transformation
in Africa
I
ITA, in partnership with the Support for
Agricultural Research for Development
of Strategic Crops (SARD-SC) in
Africa, will hold a two-day workshop on
Engagement of Youth Entrepreneurship
for Agricultural Transformation in Africa
on 28-30 May at the Conference Center,
IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria.
IITA and the Alliance for a Green
Revolution in Africa (AGRA) are
developing an Africa-wide program on the
Youth Agribusiness Development Initiative
(YADI), a privatepublic partnership to
advance youth employment in agriculture
and agribusiness in Africa. The workshop
will bring together interested stakeholders
to brainstorm and develop a Pan-African
Youth in Agribusiness program. Several
dignitaries are expected at the workshop
including Ministers of Agriculture; heads
of potential funding institutions such as
IFAD, IDRC, and Bill & Melinda Gates
Group photograph of participants at the Workshop.
an ongoing project in Ghana intended
to fnd sustainable solutions to reducing
afatoxin contamination in maize and
groundnut. He further stressed that the
workshop was meant to raise awareness
on afatoxin contamination in some
crops; identify farmers who would
participate in eff icacy trials of afasafe
(control product) in maize and groundnut;
discuss work plans, responsibilities, and
timelines of the various activities of the
feld trials; and obtain feedback prior to
implementation.
PhD student Daniel Agbetiameh made a
presentation on the prevalence of afatoxin
contamination in crops in Ghana. He
explained what afatoxins are, the causal
agents, the effects on human and animal
health as well as on trade, and outlined
the history of afatoxin surveillance studies
in maize, groundnuts and their products
since 1964. He emphasized that afatoxin
contamination in maize and groundnut was
a perennial problem in Ghana and appealed
to participants to eat quality food free from
contamination.
Prof Richard T. Awuah of the Department
of Crop and Soil Sciences Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST), discussed the level
of knowledge and awareness of afatoxin
contamination in crops among the
Ghanaian populace. He stressed that
knowledge and awareness of a situation
was paramount in making an informed
decision. However, in the case of afatoxins,
even though there is awareness among
health, agricultural and other professionals,
the general Ghanaian population is mostly
unaware of the afatoxin problem or its
implications. He mentioned that the
low level of awareness suggested that
the menace posed by afatoxins was not
well appreciated in the country and
emphasized that afatoxin awareness-
raising workshops should have a central role
in the afatoxin management interventions
in Ghana.
The workshop was attended by 65 farmers
(22 women), 16 offcials from the Ministry
of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) at the
district level from four selected districts
(Mampong, Ejura, Atebubu-Amanti, and
Nkoranza South) in Ghana, representatives
from some national institutions such as
KNUST and the Crop Research Institute
(CRI), an NGO (African Connections
Ghana Ltd.) and the Ecumenical
Association for Sustainable Agriculture
and Rural Development (ECASARD).
IITA takes awareness on biological control of afatoxins to Ghana ...from page 1
Cassava Science Day held at IITA-Cameroon
A
Cassava Science Day took place in
February at IITA-Cameroon. It was
organized by the Japanese International
Cooperation Agency (JICA), IITA, and
the Institute for Agronomic Research and
Development (IRAD). The workshop was
on cassava production, processing, and
marketing.
There were 29 participants at the
workshop including Prof Akiyo Shioya
representating JICA, IITA Country
Representative Dr Rachid Hanna, IITA
Country Representative for Burundi
Dr Emmanuel Njukwe, Dr Papa Saliou
Sarr, Dr Manga Gabriel Ambroise,
media representatives, researchers,
feld technicians, cassava chip and four
marketers, and farmers representatives.
The workshop started with a welcome
address and a brief presentation on Cassava
Day by Dr Hanna.
The objectives of the 2014 Cassava Day
were to examine the various approaches
put together on cassava platforms at the
international, regional, and local levels by
different stakeholders.
Prof Shioya proposed that the
third annual Cassava Science Day
workshop slated for 2015 should be for
two days and that participants from China
and Thailand should be part of the
workshop.

Youths in a conference
page 3 IITA Bulletin 2224
Dr Alfred Dixon now Head of Partnership Coordination Ofce
D
r Alfred Dixon
has been
appointed Head
of the Partnership
C o o r d i n a t i o n
Offce. The position
had been vacant for
two years since it
was created in April
2012.
The Partnership
and is responsible for the management of
projects that are mainly implemented by a
diverse group of partners doing research,
development, capacity development, and
monitoring and evaluation. These projects
are often in several countries and in more
than one of the regional hubs.
Alfred will continue to be the Project
Leader for the project on Sustainable
Weed Management Technologies for
Cassava Systems in Nigeria.
Alfred served as the Director General of
the Sierra Leone Agricultural Research
Institute (SLARI), Freetown, Sierra
Leone, for fve years after leaving IITA
in 2008. His career with IITA-Ibadan
started as a Postdoctoral Fellow (1989-
1991), Associate Scientist (1991-1994),
and Scientist (1994-2008) in Cassava
Breeding/Genetics. He holds a PhD in
Agronomy (1988) and an MSc in Genetics
(1985) from Kansas State University,
Manhattan, Kansas, USA, and a BSc in
Agriculture (1981) from Njala University
College, University of Sierra Leone, Sierra
Leone.
World Food Prize winner, Hans Herren with
Ylva Hillbur at the conference on climate
change and agriculture in the Republic of
Benin.
Coordination Offce is in the Partnerships
and Capacity Development Directorate
Photo News: Board meeting in Cotonou
Board members taking a look at the mites
under the microscope.
Board members in the insects museum in
IITA-Benin.
On tour in Drabo Gbo.
IITA Board and IITA Extended Management team at the Center of Excellence in Cotonou.
IITA BOT Chair presents a plaque of honor to Peter Neuenschwander at Drabo Gbo forest.
Sanginga addresses participants.